“Declan Burke is his own genre. The Lammisters dazzles, beguiles and transcends. Virtuoso from start to finish.” – Eoin McNamee “This bourbon-smooth riot of jazz-age excess, high satire and Wodehouse flamboyance is a pitch-perfect bullseye of comic brilliance.” – Irish Independent Books of the Year 2019 “This rapid-fire novel deserves a place on any bookshelf that grants asylum to PG Wodehouse, Flann O’Brien or Kyril Bonfiglioli.” – Eoin Colfer, Guardian Best Books of the Year 2019 “The funniest book of the year.” – Sunday Independent “Declan Burke is one funny bastard. The Lammisters ... conducts a forensic analysis on the anatomy of a story.” – Liz Nugent “Burke’s exuberant prose takes centre stage … He plays with language like a jazz soloist stretching the boundaries of musical theory.” – Totally Dublin “A mega-meta smorgasbord of inventive language ... linguistic verve not just on every page but every line.Irish Times “Above all, The Lammisters gives the impression of a writer enjoying himself. And so, dear reader, should you.” – Sunday Times “A triumph of absurdity, which burlesques the literary canon from Shakespeare, Pope and Austen to Flann O’Brien … The Lammisters is very clever indeed.” – The Guardian

Monday, August 30, 2010

Down These Green Streets …

… quite a few men and women must go, very few of whom are in any way mean. In fact, they’ve all been pretty generous in contributing to DOWN THESE GREEN STREETS: IRISH CRIME WRITING IN THE 21st CENTURY, a collection of essays, interviews and short fictions written by Irish crime writers about the sudden explosion in Irish crime writing (academics in a tizzy, right). Declaration of Interest: the collection has been put together by your humble host.
  As all three regular readers will be aware, this project has been simmering for some time now, but I had a meeting with an Irish publisher last Friday morning and it was finally given the green light. Contracts are in the process of being issued, so it’s probably polite not to name names until all is signed and sealed, but the wheels are in motion and GREEN STREETS should see a shelf near you by spring, 2011.
  As for the contributors, well, it’s a veritable Who’s Who of Irish crime writing. In alphabetical-ish order: John Banville, Alex Barclay, Colin Bateman, Ingrid Black, Gerard Brennan, Ken Bruen, Paul Charles, John Connolly, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Tana French, Alan Glynn, Cora Harrison, Declan Hughes, Arlene Hunt, Gene Kerrigan, Brian McGilloway, Adrian McKinty, KT McCaffrey, Eoin McNamee, Cormac Millar, Andrew Nugent, Niamh O’Connor, Professor Ian Ross and Neville Thompson.
  You’ll appreciate that I’m biased, but having read all the submitted pieces, it’s a terrific collection. What’s most interesting about it, I think, is the sheer diversity of the writers and the subjects they chose to write about … a fascinating rattlebag, indeed. I’ll keep you posted on developments, naturally, and I’ll be nailing up a list of contents at some point in the near future …

8 comments:

Naomi Johnson said...

Congratulations, DB, on seeing this project finally come to fruition. I've been anticipating this one for much too long.

michael said...

Good news. I look forward to reading soon.

adrian said...

I've heard that this is a masterpiece of literary criticism.

seana graham said...

Having read more than a few of the authors within, I think it probably will be pretty wonderful.

I was wondering what had become of the project, actually. Hope it will be available stateside when it does appear.

lil Gluckstern said...

Looking forward to this. I read a lot of these writers. They help me travel in my chair. Will it be published in the states?

Peter Rozovsky said...

Fook, I'd forgotten about this one. This is exciting news.
======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

Declan Burke said...

Much obliged, folks. I'll get a special thrill from seeing this one on the shelf ... a different buzz than if it was a novel of my own, say, but a terrific buzz all the same.

Cheers, Dec

Dana King said...

I'm in, whenever it comes out. Can we assume it will be available in the US of A?